Machine for setting and stropping razor-blades.



A. W. SMITH. MACHINE FOR SETTING AND STROPPING RAZOR BLADES.

APPLICATION FILED OCT- 23, I916 Patented July 3, 1917.

2 SHEETS-SHEET l- A. W. SMITH. E FOR SETTING AND STROPPING RAZOR BLADES-APPLICATION FILED OCT. 23, I916.

Patented July 3, 1917.

2 suacrs-snsn 2.

MACHIN ALFRED WILLIAM SMITH, OF VICTORIA, LONDON, ENGLAND.

MACHINE FOR SETTING AND STROPPING RAZOR-BLADES.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented July 3, 1917.

Application filed. October 23. 1916. Serial No. 127,137.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, ALFRED WILLIAM SMITH, subject of the King of GreatBritain and Ireland, residing at 4 Moreton Terrace Mews, Victoria, inthe county of London, England, have invented certain new and usefulImprovements in Machines for Setting and Stropping Razor-Blades, ofwhich the following is a specification.

My invention relates to an improved machine or device for grinding,setting, and stropping the blades of safety and other razors, and forbrevity will be referred to in this specification and in the claimsappended thereto as a stropping machine.

The object of the invention is to provide a machine which willsatisfactorily perform all the operations necessary in grinding, settingand stropping a razor blade and which shall also be simple andinexpensive in construction. One construction of machine will be fullydescribed and the novel features thereof pointed out in the claims. Inthe accompanying drawings which illustrate this construction:

Figure 1 is a front elevation.

Fig. 2 is a plan.

Fig. 3 is an elevation showing a section on the line AB of Fig. 2.

Fig. 4 is a side elevation showing a section on the center line of Fig.1 but with the operating or driving band omitted.

Fig. 5 is a sectional view of a blade holder, and

Fig. 6 is another view of a blade holder showing the parts thereofseparated.

The machine comprises a frame 1 which is preferably stamped out of sheetmetal and of a cross or diamond shape. Near the upper extremity of theframe there is provided an aperture 2 conveniently of a keyhole shape'sothat the frame can be suspended from a nail or other projection. At ornear the extremities of the horizontal part of the frame there aremounted two spindles or rods 3, 4 which extend through the frame and aresecured by nuts 5, 6 respectively screwed on to them. These rods 3, 4constitute the supports for two blade holders hereinafter to bedescribed.

The outer or front ends of these fixed rods pass through a cross-bar 7which is secured on them by suitable milled nuts 8, 9 respectively, itis also provided near the eenter with a hole or bearing to receive aspindle 10 which is secured to the frame 1. at its other end by a nut11. This spindle or rod 10 constitutes a fixed support upon which a drum12 rotates, and this drum carries the stropping or grinding medium 13. Aplurality of such drums may be provided with the machine having avariety of operative surfacesto perform any series of sharpeningoperations on the blades. It will be seen that by unscrewing the millednuts 8, 9, the cross-bar 7 can be removed and then the drum 12 can befreely slid off its spindle 10 and another one substituted for it.

The blade-holders which are shown on the machine in Fig. 2 and in detailin Figs. 5 and 6 comprise suitable stamped clips 14 bent at one edge 15to encircle one of the spindles 3, 4. Positioning pins 16 or othersuitable means are provided on the clip 14 to engage with apertures orother means on the blade 18. The two ends of the clip 14 are providedwith lugs 17 bent over to face the surface of the clip, and a springclip 19 is arranged to slide under these lugs and press on the razorblade 18. The rear edge of this member is bent over as at 20 to embracethe part 15 of the member 14 and is extended to provide a suitablefinger grip for withdrawing the slide 19 from its engaged position. Theopposite edge of the plate 19 is slotted at 21 to accommodate the pins16, when it is pushed home. These blade holders are mounted, as statedabove, on the fixed rods 3, 4 and are so designed thatthe edge of ablade in them can be tangential to and in contact with the abrasive orstropping surface of the drum 12 in either of two positions as shown inFig. 1, so that the motion of the roller or drum 12 is in a directionaway from the edge of the blade so that the latter cannot catch in thesurface of the roller to do any damage.

The drum 12 is turned down at one end 22 and provided with a groove 23constituting a pulley for a cord or other suitable driving member 24.Each of the blade holders 14 has a pulley 25 secured on the end of thepart 15 concentrically with the spindle 3 or 4 on which the holder ismounted and these pulleys may be grooved as shown in Fig. 2 if sodesired.

The driving cord 24 so arranged that it completely encircles the pulley22, 23, and

partially encircles the pulleys 25 as shown in Fig. 3. The ends of thecord are led downward through guides at the bottom of the frame as alsoshown in this figure and are provided with rings, loops or otherconvenient means for grasping them in the hands. The guides areconveniently formed of sleeves 26 loosely mounted on pins 27 secured inthe frame 1 and connected by a bridge-piece 28 to stiffen and supportthem.

When blades to be treated have been secured in the two holders, themachine is on erated by grasping the ends of the cord 2-1 one in eachhand and imparting a reciprocating motion to it.

Referring to Figs. 1 and 3, if the righthand cord is pulled downward thepulleys 25 will both be rotated in a counter-clockwise direction,thereby lifting the blades off the drum 12 and carrying them around tillthey engage it again on the other side of their respective spindles 3,4. Also the drum 12 will be set in rotation in a counter-clockwiseclirection, so that when the blades are in contact with it the drumrotates away from the edge of the blades. Similarly when the cord 241-is moved in the opposite direction the various parts are readjusted sothat the opposite sides of the blades are held in contact with theroller 12 which again rotates away from the edges being treated.

It is an important feature of this invention that the pulleys 25 shouldbe smaller than the pulley 22, 23, in order that their rotation may bemore rapid and lift the blades clear of the drum 12 before it is startedin movement in a reverse direction. It will be apparent that when ablade holder has been rotated sufficiently to bring its blade intocontact with the drum 12, no further rotation is possible and the cordtherefore slips over the pulleys 25 during the continuing movement ofthe drum. The frictional drag of the cord however on these pulleyscauses the blades to be pressed on the stropping surface with therequisite pressure for operating on them.

Another feature of the machine consists in the means for imparting aslight axial or endwise movement to the drum 12 during its rotation.This is effected by forming a suitable screw-thread 36 on the spindle 10as shown in Fig. 4. The drum 12 is threaded internally or has a nutmounted in it to cooperate with this screw so that when it is rotated bymeans of the cord it is also caused to travel axially. This movementcompensates for any irregularities on the surface of the drum andproduces a finer or keener edge on the blades than could otherwise beobtained. In order to permit the cord 21 to remain in proper engagementwith the pulleys 25 in any axial position of the drum it may benecessary to make these pulleys cylindrical, without any groove, or witha wide groove, so that the cord can travel along them with the change inposition of the groove 23 of the pulley 22.

In order to prevent the end face of the stropping drum 12 and also theend face of the pulley 22 from jamming or retaining any appreciablefrictional grip either upon the cross bar 7 or the frame 1 when the drum12 is at either end of its axial traverse, a projection 29 is formedboth upon the end of the drum and the pulley or. washers may be mountedupon the. spindle 10 in equivalent positions. These projections arepreferably made slightly convex so as to reduce the jamming or screwingaction referred to above, to a minimum, and permitting the direction ofrotation of the drum to be easily reversed. It will be appreciated thatone of these projections 29 also acts to prevent the edge of thestropping surface 13 from fouling the cross bar It will be appreciatedthat various modifications may be made in the precise details ofconstruction of this machine without departing fromthe scope of thepresent invention, and that while this machine can be adapted by theprovision of suitable blade holders for treating any type of safety orother razor blade, it is particularly suitable for use in grinding andstropping safety razor blades of the Gillette? type.

What I claim as my invention and desire to secure by Letters Patentis 1. In a machine for grinding and strepping razor blades thecombination of, a rotatable drum, a plurality of rotatablebladeholders,spindles whereon said blade-holders are mounted arranged in a circleconcentric with said drum and parallel with the axis thereof, a pulleyrotatively engaging said drum, a plurality of smaller pulleys eachrotatively engaged with one of said bladeholders and a reciprocatablecord engaging all of said pulleys.

2. In a machine for grinding and stropping razor blades the combinationof, a rotatable drum, a grooved pulley secured thereto concentric withthe axis of rotation thereof, a plurality of rotatably mountedblade-holders, a plurality of pulleys each of smaller diameter andgreater axial length than said grooved pulley and each secured to, arotatable blade-holder and a reciprocatable driving belt engaging all ofsaid pulleys.

3. In a machine for grinding and stropping razor blades the combinationof, a frame, a spindle secured thereto, a drum rotatably mounted on saidspindle, a plurality of spindles also mounted on said frame and arrangedon a circle concentric with said first-mentioned spindle, a retaininmember engaging the ends of allof sa-i spindles, detachable means forsecuring it on some of them, blade-holders mounted on ios said pluralityof spindles, a pulley on said drum, a smaller pulley on each of saidbladeholders and a reciprocatable flexible driving band engaging all ofsaid pulleys.

l. In a machine for grinding and stropping razor blades the combinationof, a screw-threaded spindle, a drum rotatably mounted on said spindleand threaded internally to engage said spindle, a plurality of rotatableblade-holders, means for rotating said drum and simultaneously rotatingsaid blade-holders at a higher speed, and a frame member engaging theend of said spindle to limit the axial movement of said drum.

5. In a machine for grinding and stropping razor blades the combinationof a screwed spindle, an internally screwed drum rotatable on saidspindle, frame-members each engaging one end of said spindle, a distance piece of smaller diameter than said drum at each end thereofbetween it and said frame-members, rotatable blade-holders, a pulley onsaid drum, a smaller pulley on each of said blade-holders and means forrotating said pulleys alternately in opposite directions.

6. In a machine for grinding and stropping razor blades the combinationof, a spindle, a drum rotatable and axially movable thereon, a convexcentrally disposed projection on the ends of said drum, 'a pulleyrotatively engaged with said drum, a plurality of rotatableblade-holders disposed around said drum, a pulley of smaller diameterthan said first-mentioned pulley on each of said blade-holders, and areciprocatable flexible band engaging all of said pulleys.

ALFRED WILLIAM SMITH.

Copies of this patent may be obtained for five cents each, by addressingthe Commissioner of Patents, Washington, D. G.

